As Kate approaches the 20-week mark of pregnancy and we get more and more excited to find out if we are having a boy or a girl or both (kidding!), we have been spending a lot of time trying to pick out a name for the unknown soldier.
We have searched lists of hipster names, Shakespeare names, athlete names and Indonesian names. We searched by meaning. We searched by popularity.
Still, we come up empty. Wouldn't it be easy to follow the Native American tradition of going outside and naming the kid whatever you see (or did we make up that "tradition"?). In Biblical times, children had named that defined their lives and changed the course of history.
But what is in a name? Does it define us? Does it dictate who we are or who we become?
Of course not. But who we are will define our name. A person's character, they way they live and present themselves, will be what people think of when they think of your name.
When people think of Ryan, I know what I want them to think, but I also have a good idea of what they actually think. I am still trying to make those two Ryans have the same meaning.
I would love for people to say, Ryan, yeah he's a man of integrity, reliability, honesty, a great dad, a man to be admired. I won't tell you what people do say, but if you know me, you know what you would say.
So, what does your name mean?
Opher: noun, verb, adjective. You should think of it for your kid...
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